Museums are complex institutions. This course explores the ethical considerations involved in collecting, conserving, displaying, and interpreting artwork, material culture, and human remains. By delving into case studies, we discuss a range of controversies and sensitive topics to learn from the past and imagine a more ethical future.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students: Graduate students will be required to assess and critique professional standards for museum ethics using assessment tools and techniques appropriate to museum professionals and administrators. Graduate students are expected to be able to present and report on assessment and research results on emerging ethical issues in museums and collections at a deeper level using more advanced techniques and analytics.
Athena Title
Museum Ethics
Non-Traditional Format
Lectures will be interspersed with hands-on experiences using museum and archival collections at UGA.
Undergraduate Pre or Corequisite
Museum Studies Certificate program students or third- or fourth-year student standing or FCID 5010 /7010 or MUSE 5010
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Student learning Outcomes
By the end of the semester, students taking the course will be able to:
Recognize and analyze a range of ethical issues in museum contexts, including collecting, conservation, display, and interpretation.
Compare the ethical perspectives and responsibilities of museum professionals such as curators, conservators, educators, and collections managers.
Explain how museum ethics codes and professional guidelines provide justification for standards of conduct in areas such as acquisition, stewardship, and public interpretation.
Analyze the complexities of competing ethical principles in museum practice, such as access versus preservation, and assess how these tensions shape decision-making.
Differentiate between ethical, legal, and fiduciary responsibilities in museum work, and compare how each framework guides institutional policies and professional actions.
Reflect on how different ethical frameworks, including anti-racist and decolonizing approaches, shape the interpretation of museum practices and influence one’s own ethical decision-making.
